


Prices

by pawn_vs_player



Series: it takes and it takes and it takes (aka: Adrian writes fic to cope with Infinity War) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Author Commentary, Author's Rant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Canonical Character Death, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, I'm so goddamn pissed off at the MCU right now honestly, Letter to a Character, M/M, READ ALL THE TAGS YOU FUCKING DUMBASSES, Steve Rogers: Captain Asshole, Stucky tag has been added again, THERE ARE SPOILERS YOU'VE BEEN WARNED, TURN BACK NOW YE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE, WHEN WILL NATASHA'S EYEBROWS RETURN FROM THE WAR, because fuck that bullshit, how is it my fault that you chose to click on this story anyway, i have very cleared tagged this with a bunch of pro-tony anti-steve tags, i turn off comment moderation for two days and i get twelve hate comments, it's meant romantically so i'm gonna damn well tag it as such, not team Cap friendly, really people, really people? are you just immediately clicking on any fic with the stucky tag?, when i have gone out of my fucking way to make it clear which demographic of the fandom this is for?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 05:12:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14489541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pawn_vs_player/pseuds/pawn_vs_player
Summary: An open letter to Steve Rogers, in the aftermath of Infinity War.Edit, in the THREE HOURS since I posted this:Hate comments will be deleted. Don't like don't read, people. It's that simple.





	Prices

**Author's Note:**

> ...this. This is what did it.  
>  Two years of hoarding Marvel plot bunnies in Google Docs and trying to finish the one longfic I've had since 2015, and this is what finally got me to post something on AO3.  
> This fucking movie.  
> 16 people dead, Thanos victorious, Tony alone, and Steve forgiven.  
> Fuck you, movie. Fuck. You.  
> No.

All that, Steve, and for what?

Lying to Tony for two years. Using his money and his resources to search for the man who murdered his parents. It's not him, you say, it's not Bucky - no, it's not Bucky. It was the Winter Soldier. But the Winter Soldier wears Bucky's face and Tony has a right to his rage. 

(He was never trying to kill Bucky, Steve. He has fucking missiles in that suit. You both would've been dead in seconds if he wanted to kill you. He just wanted to make you hurt like he'd been hurt.)

And now everyone you loved is dust.

All that, Steve, and for what?

Innocent police officers thrown down stairs. (They're maimed if not dead, Steve, they're  _human_. Not like you. Humans, even in Kevlar, don't fall down three stories and get back up again.) They were never going to kill him. No one was going to kill him except for T'Challa. (You killed people, Steve, and not in the war. What does that make you except a murderer and a criminal?) A tunnel collapsed on civilian traffic, a person dumped off a motorcycle, dozens of victims sealed off from ambulances. (More lives on your hands, Steve. Collateral damage is inevitable but  _it doesn't have to be lives._ Collateral damage is inevitable but  _it didn't have to be there, then, because of you._ )

An airport torn apart because you refuse to trust people. (That's hundreds of people out of jobs, millions of dollars in damages. Someone has to pay, and somehow, it's never you.) Friends in prison for crimes they committed. (Ross is an asshole who's manipulating the law, but they still deserved a cell. A cell elsewhere, but a cell nonetheless.) 

Tony Stark, beaten and abandoned in Siberia with a broken suit. (You had no way of guaranteeing that he would live.)

And now everyone who loved you is dust.

All that, Steve, and for what?

Wanda forgiven, somehow. (She mindraped you and your team and pushed Tony, a man with PTSD and anxiety and massive self worth issues, into creating Ultron. He made it but it was her hands guiding his.) Sam and Rhodey, friends again. Rhodey turning his back on the Accords. (He was in full support of them before. He was a hero because he still believed in them even after you got his spine broken.) Clint vanished away, back home. (Laura should never have let a criminal who abandoned his family again for no good reason back in her house with her children.) Bucky, your precious Bucky, in Wakanda, without you. 

Recovering without you. Only without you. 

Vision returning to Wanda. (Why did he love her? How could he forgive her for driving him through a building?) Natasha going blond. (Where are her eyebrows?) Your beard, your empty arm, your dark suit. 

A golden wound in Vision's chest, a call from an old teammate, a battle in the greatest country on earth. A punch to Thanos' testicle chin.

And now your beloved Bucky is dust on the ground.

So, Steve. After all of that, he's dead. Bucky is dead. After everyone you hurt and everyone you fought and everyone you killed - Bucky still dies, and you can't save him. 

So, Steve, I have a question for you.

**Was it worth it?**


End file.
